Book One: Rain Drops, Snow Fall
by Levitating Bunny
Summary: Summary I suppose most girls would give up. Most girls’ would just lie down on their bed and cry, curse the world and all the people in it. Most girls would look at their situation and let themselves be killed. The thing is... I'm not most girls.
1. Prologue: My Reasons

I don't know if I'll ever recover from the shock. I don't know if my dreams will ever come true. The only thing I do know is that life changes drastically when something happens to you. Something that can change you to the extent that you will never be the same….

I was afraid.

I lay in bed, my body completely motionless. All around me there were shadows. These shadows confused me, and I feared them. The whispered horrible things to me, told me things I didn't want to hear. They made me listen, they tortured me. I saw horrid things. Bodies ripped open, their guts spilling onto the ground at my feet, men, women, and children chopped up and set in a pile to burn. The stench of rotting flesh filling my nose. Dogs eating the bodies of men shot to death or wounded on the battle field.

That was the first worst night of my life. I was two years old at the time. I was never the same after that. But it served to make the second night even more terrible than it truly was.

Adults don't seem to understand why children are afraid of the shadows…

I was walking home from school. I was eight years old. By this time, I was known as the class freak. I was shy and didn't trust any person. I had no friends, only family. The school treated poorly based upon my history. You see, the shadows never left me alone. Not even during the day. I would suddenly cry or scream in the middle of class because of the horrific images they showed me. It was my torture.

But the absolute worst night of my life, the second worst night of my life, happened that very day I was walking home from school. I had stayed behind to help clean up. The teacher had offered to walk me home. I had accepted, for I feared the shadows would attack me.

It was a terrible mistake, to ask for the teacher's help. The teacher, you see, he had ideas of his own… That night I cried the hardest. But somehow… somehow I began to love the shadows that day.

My teacher was silent as I walked along beside him. He looked down curiously at me. I smiled up at him. It was my fake smile, I only smiled for my family… my real smile. He grinned back, and stared straight ahead. We passed by an abandoned garage like storage room. He suddenly grabbed me, holding my arm behind my back. My books spilled all over the ground. My teacher was smirking. I could remember the look in his eyes. Terrible, terrible eyes.

He shoved me through a door. I cried out, screamed. But he only said "No one can hear you. This room is sound proof." His fingers traced my body. I shivered and cried out again. He slapped me, hard. I fell to the floor. He left me for a moment. I ran to the door, to find I couldn't open it. I screamed and pounded against it. My thoughts repeated in my head 'Why me? Why me?' After a time I gave up. I sank to the ground. It was now that I looked about me.

I found the abandoned garage like complex was not so abandoned. Inside of the terrible looking building was a sweet, beautiful inside. The walls were painted a light peach. The huge bed was spread to match the walls. The room looked as if a woman had decorated it. Paintings and flowers adorned pieces of furniture and the walls. A few lights were scattered about the room.

It was a pretty room. The only thing that seemed out of place was a swing like object that looked as if it were made to tie up a person. I studied it from my spot on the floor. I was tired and wary. He came in about then. He was wearing nothing. Nothing at all. I gasped, trying to hide my face. But he came and took my hands away. He began to coo softly to me, rocking me softly. It was as if he were trying to make this all okay. But, it wasn't. Nothing would be okay.

I cried out again. He picked me up and set me on the bed, stopping my mouth, kissing me harshly. My still developing breasts were captive in his hands. My memory then fades. But I know… I know what he did to me. I watched. Somehow, I was outside of my body. I was with the shadows. The shadows brought me out of my body, to that I would not have to endure such treatment. Inside of me, was one of them. That shadow stayed quite and did what it was told.

I don't remember how long I was trapped inside that garage. But every time he began to touch me the shadows would take me away, to a safe place. One day, one rainy day, my sister rescued me. She burst through the door, her eyes ablaze. "You bastard!" She screamed out, and I was taken away again, to watch as my sister murdered the man. She did terrible things to him. She began by cutting off his… his… I remember his scream. My body lay on the floor life-less.

After all the torture, my sister went to my body and shook me gently. That is how I woke up, my memory blurry. The shadows… I came to love the shadows that day.


	2. Chapter One: A Retched Begining

Colors. There were so many colors here. Blue, green, yellow, red, purple, so bright were the colors that they were almost blinding. So bright were the colors that they could not be real. Everything here seemed much like an illusion. If you looked carefully, you could see things fade and dim before coming back as bright as before. Sometimes areas would go black. The birds flew and sang much in the same way they always did. The river flowed and gurgled happily, its sound never fading even if its color did. The trees dotting the field winked in and out of existence, until finally, everything was black. All there was left was the sounds.

One sound in particular was something often heard here. A small, unhappy sigh. Under a great willow tree, by the clear blue water of the river laid a girl. She looked like many other girls that could be seen. Tan skin, red lips, short chestnut brown hair. She did not look out of place. She seemed average, like any other girl you might see walking down the street. The only thing that really made her seem different was her eyes. They were gray and stared at nothing in particular. If you looked very closely, you could see a slightly milky layer that rested upon these odd eyes.

The girl's name was Miyoko and she was very, very different from the other girls. She had a power no other human could boast of, save for one, a man. A very old man who cheated death many, many times. She called him father, but she knew not who her real parents were. Her friend, a street child, much older than she, said they had abandoned her in some garbage. Her friend said that her father, the old man, had saved her from the stench and snow. He said that if Miyoko had been left out there for much longer she might have died.

This is exactly what this girl was thinking about right now. The old man and his connections to her powers. He taught her everything he knew about healing, it was what he called the 'proper' way. That healing with Chakra, the way the ninjas do, was cheating. He only used one jutsu, only one, which made him hated by his clan, who became very good medical-nins, and used many medical jutsus.

Miyoko went to a school to learn how to read and write, the way other children did. When she got home, she learned about herbs and Chakra control, for the only jutsu she was ever allowed to learn. The old man never told her the name of the jutsu. He only said it was as old as the Arakawas. She wondered for a long time what an Arakawa was, but never got an answer. Therefore, she went on believing that they were some sort of gods that he worshipped. The only thing she did know about the Arakawas was that they were very, very old. She did not understand their connection with the jutsu, but never asked. The old man hated questions. So she learned never to ask things.

The jutsu she had learned from the man had made her faint the first time she used it. He had not told her what exactly would happen, but when it did, she could not take it. Blood sprouted from her fingers and onto the floor. So she had lost control of her chakra from shock and disgust. Henceforth she fainted. She did not use the jutsu again, until she felt she was ready. Eventually after many years, she got used to blood. She did not faint or throw up in the middle of an operation, which many people were thankful for. Her life had seemed perfect.

An average girl living an average life… that is until death came knocking. She could not truly be seen, but she knew he was there. He was taking the soul of a man she was operating on. He had been dieing and she was trying to save him. Death, a fluttering shadow in her vision. She screamed and pushed her hand through it, but as she did, a light sprung from her fingers. It was so bright it blinded her.

The old man had to finish the operation. The young man lived. This was when the 'Average girl with an average life' deal went to pieces. She had blinded herself without knowing how to work with the power, or even the fact that she had one. The old man began to understand the seriousness of the situation and, at the time, had mumbled something about apologizing to that old gypsy. Miyoko, dazed, confused, and scared merely sat in a corner trying to figure out what happened and how to see.

The old man had left her alone, seeming to temporarily forget she was there. She had sat in that corner crying for what had seemed days to Miyoko. She finally remembered getting up and moving clumsily through the house to her room, where she fell asleep. When she woke up, it was dark. She went back to sleep, not realizing that the sun was very much up.

In this blindness she realized she could see the shadows that had cursed and plagued her, as well as saved her. They were formed like people, but somehow, she could see they were not people. It was curious, these creatures and how they appeared before her like this. She eventually got used to them and they became a usual part of Miyoko's day.

Weeks later, after coming back from gathering herbs she found her father. The man who had protected and kept her safe, dead. She had cried for three days straight and did not eat during this time. Her friend was the one to pull her out of it. She demanded he tell her how her father died. Her friend did tell. The golden band around his neck and solely tightened, suffocating him, but the band also began to regenerate cells. His death was slow and painful. Only dieing one his head was completely separated from his body and the golden band a large gold ball.

As Miyoko lay under that tree now, her eyes closed. Dreams sent by the shadows swimming through her head. Making tears fall from her eyes. She got used to the terrible images they showed her, as well as the beautiful ones.


	3. Chapter Two: A New Life

((A/N: I have updated a few things and have decided to continue my story, for those of you who are still interested! I hope it will be better than I had originally had planned! Love you all!))

"Hey, you, get up." A man growled down at Miyoko. She moaned softly and curled into a tighter ball, her cradling her head as they rested against the tree stump. This caused her to be kicked sharply in the stomach, which, in turn, caused her eyes to flash open, and her body to jump up as she vomited in front of her. The man who had kicked her looked down and scoffed. Miyoko whimpered once, whipping her mouth on the back of her hand.

She looked in the direction of the man who scoffed. "W-what do y-you w-want?" She managed to stutter out. Her large grey eyes searching for him. She felt breath on her face as the man crouched close in front of her. Miyoko gasped and drew back. His large, strong hand, cupped her face, keeping it where it was. "You're blind." He commented in a gruff voice. Miyoko did not answer, stunned into silence.

"Zabuza, please, we must hurry." A soft voice was saying. It was lovely, slightly feminine, but obviously male. She listened to his voice, her face turning towards the boy, who could not be much older than her ten years of age. The man, Zabuza, gripped her face tighter in his hands and made her look back towards him.

"Do you sense her power Haku?" Zabuza asked, finally letting go of her face. There was silence between the two. Miyoko was shivering. She wrapped her arms around herself, curling up, as if to protect against the two forms. "Well?" The gruff voiced man asked.

"Yes. I do. It is greater than my own… and even yours Zabuza." The boy finally said. "She is afraid."

"Hmm…? Yes, I can see that." Miyoko heard the light tapping of foot steps getting closer to her. Then there was silence. Someone put his or her arms around her. He was warm. She felt herself melt into him. "Haku, we don't have time for this. We are bringing her with us." She heard the larger, heavier foot steps of the man, Zabuza, walk away. Haku helped Miyoko up.

"Please, forgive my master. He is in a terrible temper." She could hear the smile in his voice. Miyoko merely nodded. Her stick was handed to her; she was then picked up and thrown over the boy's shoulder. "You're light." His voice sounded surprised. She did not weigh much, even for her short height. Miyoko made a small squeaking sound as the boy began walking. The sounds of the larger man's foot steps could be heard much better as Haku got closer.

It felt like ages before she was set down. Her bare feet hit soft grass. She wiggled her toes experimentally. "Wh-where are we?" she asked. Miyoko got no reply at first. If she could not hear the sounds of their breaths, she would have thought she was alone. She gripped her staff tightly. _'A journey… Speak no more, it is dangerous.' _the word was breathed into her ear. It was like a soft, warm breeze on a summer's day, only much gentler, kinder. She obeyed the voice. She walked calmly beside the boy. She found he had put her down, not because he could no longer carry her but because he trusted her not to run away. She supposed she should be happy with that trust, it felt odd to receive it so early with in her relationship with the two mysterious men.

She wondered, momentarily, what would happen if she did speak. She thought of a number of gruesome things. Most of them involved being mauled by the gruffer sounding man. The boy seemed much to kind to harm her with out reason. She decided she would give no one reason to cause her pain.

It had been a very long time since she had gone on a long walk. Normally she walked from her home to the willow and back. She decided she missed the sounds of leaves and sticks crunching beneath her feet, the feel of debris from the trees around her, the smell of natural decay of plant materials, and the sounds of little animals chattering about her. There was another thing amongst those mentioned above that she had not experienced in at least two years. That was the sounds of another person walking with her; something even rarer was the sound of two people with her. That had not happened since Miyoko was a tiny child. She, her sister, and her father had taken a walk. Her father became too sick and too old to walk, and so she and her sister were the only ones to do that. After her sister left Miyoko no longer went on walks.

What would her sister do when she did not write back? Miyoko decided she would ask the boy if it would be possible to send letters to her sister. She did not want her only family to think her dead. This thought was swept away with a current of thousands of thoughts one tends to think when physical exercise is evolved. It can hardly be helped.

It was getting dark. Miyoko did not know this. Her world was always dark, save for the little dots of light that marked humans, and the shadow people, but they did not really count. Her company did notice though. They knew the girl could only travel for so long like this. A few whispers between the two men were exchanged. She knew it was about her, even if she could not hear the words.

She reached out a slim hand and grabbed the boy's sleeve. "Haku-san," she said softly, the warning given to her earlier still fresh in her mind. She could hear him hushing her. She obeyed immediately. They decided to carry her when she got tired. She was to tell Haku when this was so. In the end, she ended up being forced into being carried. It was a strange thing, for a prisoner not wanting to be a burden to her captors. It might have helped if she had thought them evil people. Somehow, she did not see it. She had no family, no real friends or connections. What they had to give her would be as great as anyone else.

What Miyoko could not realize was what they had to give her was a gift greater than anyone else could ever have bestowed upon her.


	4. Chapter Three: The Start of Disaster

Her lips formed the shape of a frown. This could be discerned from the downward position of the corner of her lips and the tilt of her mouth. The reason for her frown would soon be revealed.

She sat upon a rock. Its reddish-grey color lost to her eyes. She heard everything though. The soft sounds of water trickling past her, the rustling of the leaves, and the soft creaking of bark in the wind, the light sounds of breath, the slight crunch of grass with foot falls were the things that tickled her ears. She also heard other things; the soft words and cries of the unseen, their loud song.

They were the reason for her frown. At this moment she was attempting meditation. But this was a holiday for those who were forgotten. They could be silenced or stilled. They made it hard for her to concentrate. In the end she gave up. Her frown turned into a smile as she stood. The liquid stream rushed passed her feet and legs, tugging at the skirts of her dress. She slowly waded through the water towards two figures resting beneath a tree. She knelt before them, watching the specks of light that represented them in this dark world.

She giggled as a couple of forgotten children sat around the larger male. They pressed close to him, murmuring, touching and watching a man who could not see or feel them. Her noise caused him to awaken from his light slumber. The younger male had been awake from her approach.

"Miyoko-san," he said slowly. In the five years they had been together he had grown. His voice had become more masculine and his body had taken on the form of a man. His physique could never match the gruffer older male. For Miyoko, she could not see his face or being. She merely saw a color and his color and matured as well. It had become stronger, steadier. "Have you finished your rest?" His voice had the calm, near monotone, that it always seemed to carry. But, in his voice, there were undertones of worry. She often heard those notes of emotion when their other companion, or even the speaker, did not. It was her gift. A gift bestowed with her blindness.

"Oh, Haku-san, I'm afraid I could not do it as thoroughly as I would have liked. The Others are celebrating. It is hard to concentrate. Imagine being amongst a vast party or even battle. The mere noise would cause all true concentration to deteriorate." This was Miyoko's soft spoken reply. She referred to the Forgotten as the Others when with Haku and Zabuza. They had heard her explanation but were still unsure of how such a thing worked.

She could hear him chuckle lightly. She could feel Zabuza's hot gaze. She turned her head slightly and had to fight her desire to smile. Oh if only he knew how the Forgotten where treating him. They seemed to do it for Miyoko's amusement though. Often the Forgotten wanted nothing to do with those who could not see them.

"We can get moving again." She told the older, stronger man. She had always been amazed at how someone's color could carry such ferocity and yet something gentle and claming in it. A hidden softness. It was that softness that seemed to reluctantly glow. It did every time she spoke. He grunted and said something to her. It was something that shocked them both.

"You will stay hidden." He stood. Haku took example. Miyoko was much to shocked, for a moment, to do anything of much use. Finally she too stood and began her trek with the two men.

It was late evening before they stopped to rest just outside of the Mist Village. It would be sometime later the next day that they would meet with a man. Haku and she sat together speaking in tones that might have fitted a brother and sister. Zabuza merely rested on the other side of the fire.

When the two were absolutely sure that Zabuza had fallen asleep, for Haku had first watch, they began to speak of more personal matters. It was Haku who had actually instigated the subject.

"He wants you to stay hidden because he doesn't want you hurt." Obviously Haku had been able to sense her upset feelings about being left out of this mission. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing would come. She closed it and just stared at Haku. It was hard to imagine their sensei feeling any kindness towards anyone. "He doesn't want you to be used. The man who hired us is greedy. He would defiantly use you in any way he liked. Zabuza never said a word about you, but he wants you some place safe. He doesn't want to see you hurt again." In his voice Miyoko heard the agreement. It was hidden, woven into it, layered.

It was a long moment before Miyoko could reply. "I think… I understand. I shall remain hidden as he asks me." The last time she had joined their mission she had taken a hit for both Haku and Zabuza. Her body had barely recovered. In truth she should not be out now.

She could hear Haku's smile in his voice. "I am glad." There was relief in his voice as well. She smiled at him. She was always getting in trouble for showing her emotion so freely. But she was truly no shinobi and therefore need not follow those rules. At least, that was what Haku had reassured her.

"I never would have thought he was truly that worried for me…" She murmured softly. Her pale grey eyes moved toward the color that represented Zabuza just as he stirred enough to mutter something about feeling nothing of the sort. She brought a hand to her mouth to hide a small smile.

The next day brought a grumpy Zabuza and fidgety Haku. Miyoko watched their lights with interest. She could not figure out what made them feel this way. She was dropped off at an inn. She was to work here as a tea maid. She was to find out things. She could do this perfectly. When she worked she merely put enough chakra in her eyes to see the world as it was, though with color much more vivid.

It was a week after her first becoming part of the tea house that it happened.

The day had started as any other had. She dressed in the traditional kimono. It was a deep black with light pink sakura flowers adorning it. The obi was the same soft pink. She would serve tea with politeness and elegance rarely seen. She would smile sweetly and often received large tips, winks, or gropes from lonely old men. She would take these in stride.

She was serving a young man who had taken it upon himself to pinch her butt. She jumped slightly and swatted his hand away with a soft exclamation. The young man merely smirked, then his face fell as an arm wrapped around her shoulders. It was a feminine young man. He stared at the other male. Miyoko could feel waves of disdain move from one to the other. She shivered subconsciously.

He turned to Miyoko and whispered into her ear "I need to speak with you." Miyoko nodded and lead him towards the back. The man who owned the place offered them the use of his office. Miyoko accepted with many thanks and a kiss to the man's cheek.

Once safely inside of the room he began. "Zabuza is hurt…" He was immediately cut off. Miyoko began speaking, crying out, demanding that she go see him. He nodded. Miyoko had a few short words with her boss with the promise of her return. The two set off for the temporary home set up for Zabuza and Haku.

There was very little talk on the way there. Once in the room Zabuza was obviously unhappy with her. She had disobeyed him. She very quickly shut him up, as he had become her patient. He had grudgingly become silent, but he swore to give her an earful when it was all over. She was about to start when the man who had hired them came in.

"Who is she? Why is she here? What is she doing?" he demanded, hardly expecting any sort of good answer. Miyoko calmly turned to look at him. Tears filled her large grey eyes. Her lower lip trembled and she pressed her fingers to attempt to stop it. She finally turned away to sob against Zabuza's chest. From this action it was assumed she was Zabuza's sweetheart. The man then left, the sight of a woman crying so piteously wasn't exactly his vision of attraction.

Once he was gone she began her work. Her fingers were swift, gentle, but with an air of purpose. She never seemed to move her hands with out good reason. Her body glowed with the energy running through each healing stitch, each ointment, and each soothing word. After a time she began singing. It was a low soft song and her voice was pitched just right. Zabuza fell asleep.

She stood and smiled at Haku before taking her leave.


End file.
